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Rangers' Hayes Drawing Early Interest

Mentioned on HNIC 2nd Intermission report that there is a lot of interest in Kevin Hayes. Winnipeg can be a destination to fill the void of Statsny. Nick Kypreos doesn’t think it would cost much, either a pick or a prospect.

We have to believe we are not giving Hayes away though. If so, package his ass with Shatty or Staal.

I haven't given up on him and he will be more valuable as a shutdown 3C than Bonino was for Pitt. He has lost weight, he is trying even if his face says he's not. Most importantly he causes more turnovers for teams trying to exit than any Ranger, combined with a decent skill set to counter attack and threaten.

Ranger fans are not overrating our players. We are killing them here. Sometimes because of how they look. Tough crowd. Hayes's game is a possession, position one on D. He's not going to play fast and furious D like Hags. He compliments guys like Hags or Fast on the forecheck, with his positioning and stick.

We have to believe we are not giving Hayes away though. If so, package his ass with Shatty or Staal.

I haven't given up on him and he will be more valuable as a shutdown 3C than Bonino was for Pitt. He has lost weight, he is trying even if his face says he's not. Most importantly he causes more turnovers for teams trying to exit than any Ranger, combined with a decent skill set to counter attack and threaten.

Ranger fans are not overrating our players. We are killing them here. Sometimes because of how they look. Tough crowd. Hayes's game is a possession, position one on D. He's not going to play fast and furious D like Hags. He compliments guys like Hags or Fast on the forecheck, with his positioning and stick.

Why are you even worried about the Bonino role? We're 3-4 years away, and Howden will fill that role.

Ranger fans are not overrating our players. We are killing them here. Sometimes because of how they look. Tough crowd. Hayes's game is a possession, position one on D.

It's natural for fans to take a dim view of Hayes, because he's big and slows the game down. He's one of our better players, however, especially given the right type of complimenting players. He has a good board game, and as noted above, possession is very important! His improvement on defense and face offs has been marked. I watched him outfox Kopitar on a face off today and thought about how that never would have happened his first few years.

The problem with trading Hayes (and Zuch) is that I believe they both would be willing to sign with us for their market value or even a bit of a discount, so they are not really pending UFAs from our perspective. They are, however, pending UFAs from a trade partner's perspective. I think trading them would amount to trading de facto non-UFAs for only UFA value. Not good.

It's natural for fans to take a dim view of Hayes, because he's big and slows the game down. He's one of our better players, however, especially given the right type of complimenting players. He has a good board game, and as noted above, possession is very important! His improvement on defense and face offs has been marked. I watched him outfox Kopitar on a face off today and thought about how that never would have happened his first few years.

The problem with trading Hayes (and Zuch) is that I believe they both would be willing to sign with us for their market value or even a bit of a discount, so they are not really pending UFAs from our perspective. They are, however, pending UFAs from a trade partner's perspective. I think trading them would amount to trading de facto non-UFAs for only UFA value. Not good.

Why are you even worried about the Bonino role? We're 3-4 years away, and Howden will fill that role.

Not worried about his role here, but the type of value he could provide to a team. Not just a 3C the way the Pens used Bonino, but he offers the versatility of a shutdown C, to stifle top lines in the playoffs. He can give a team with 2 good offensive C's more favorable situations.

In terms of draft picks it means at least a #1 this draft. However, I feel like he is worth a bigger return because he can negotiate in January and would likely sign a team friendly deal to the playoff team that actually wanted him and his enigmatic ass for 4/5 years.

Hayes is such a strong puck possession player. If he ever figures out how to not screw up the opportunities he creates for himself and others he really does have the potential to be a strong 25/25 to 30/30 player while providing shutdown defense. I am always so intrigued by the strengths of his game, yet always seem to come away disappointed by the end results. Similar to Kreider in a way in terms of the amount potential and talent (albeit different talent) that exists combined with underachieving production.